I Love Homemade Gifts
This large box is what has been tormenting me ever since it arrived. I had absolutely no idea what it could be. All I know is that it was from my folks and Bill was in on it.
Finally I was able to open it Christmas morning. This is what I found.
This is what my dad wrote:
“July of this year, Bill e-mailed me wondering if I’d be interested in building a new gate for you since the one you had was in very poor condition. I told him I’d be happy to take on the project. During my visit in October, I discussed the gate with Bill. When I returned home, I began designing the gate in my mind. I concluded the original gate design really did not suit the style of your home or your family. The gate I built is my vision of what the gate should be, four parts of a whole with the whole being the family. It depicts four different personalities in your family, each going different directions, but held together as a family unit – The Childs.
The cedar used in building the gate was originally the beams in our basement bar room. The cedar is clear, heart wood, old growth cedar timber. When we remodeled the basement level, I saved the beams and recycled them for the green movement.”
I was completely shocked and touched by his gift. Homemade gifts are the best. Thanks Dad!
Amelia Earhart
One costume down, one more to go.
CraftMemo
For those of you looking for a way to keep track of your stash, check out CraftMemo, an online database for your craft supplies. I found the link at My Simpler Life.
I haven’t had much time to play with it yet, but it looks like it could be a nice way to figure out what I have and to organize my current or future projects. I do wish you could add categories. But you can do searches in just the notes section. So for example you want to get a list of all of your sock yarn. All you would need to do is to write the word “socks” in the notes for each of your sock yarns. Then you’ll have an easy way to compile a list of just your sock yarn.
Don’t know if I’ll be using it though. But I could imagine I could also list my needle inventory here, and my books, and my beads, and…well there’s a lot of other craft supplies in my house too.
Done with weaving…for now
I’m not feeling too chatty tonight, so here are the rest of my finished woven pieces from my weaving class last month.
Twill Sampler
Log Cabin Sampler
And some knitting books I’m really looking forward to…
Off to finish my crochet homework.
Weaving and Crocheting and Knitting, OH MY!
It’s been one fiber-intensive week–35 hours of learning to weave, a crochet class, knitting for the store, and my regular pleasure knitting on top of that. Yikes! I’m looking forward to our beach trip next week to take a little break from fiber. (Well, not completely, that would be silly.)
I took the week of weaving class at WEBS this week with Scott Norris. The class was as intense as the class description led me to believe. Just about everyone else in the class had woven before, except for me. My background basically was that I had made one belt on an inkle loom in college and then…it stops there. I managed to keep up with everyone and even got to do a third project yesterday. By the last day, I was able to wind a warp and dress a loom all by myself. And with the good class notes and the pictures I took, I might even be able to do it again in a year.
Day 1
Scott had already wound the warps for our first project. So we began by learning how to dress our loom, a Norwood 22″ Workshop loom (4 shaft/6 treadle). Next we began to weave our color gamps, the first being a plain weave. The second was a twill.
Day 2
I was far enough ahead that I could to a second twill gamp. So by the end of the day I had three color gamps finished, tied them and washed them in the evening.
We also got to start our second project, a twill sampler, and picked two colors for it. After staring at those rainbow colors for 1 1/2 days, I wanted something soothing. I chose two colors that reminded me of roasted marshmallows. We learned how to wind a warp which I actually found quit relaxing, unlike anything up to this point. By the end of the day I had started to dress the loom again.
Day 3
We talked a lot about twills today: Straight draw, Point Twill, Rosepath, Gooseye, and Dornik. I finished dressing my loom and began weaving the balanced twill part of my sampler.
Day 4
Today was not a good day for me. I was tired from the weaving and hot room, and my brain just wasn’t working well any more. I did manage to finish weaving the balanced twill and the warp-face twill sections of my sampler, but there was a lot of unweaving today.
Day 5
I was determined to have a much better day and got in early. Within the first hour I had finished the weft-face twill section of my sampler and could go on to the third project, a log cabin pattern using two shuttles. I choose six colors for the project, learned to wind the warp holding two colors at the same time, and dressed the loom by myself.
OK, here are some not very exciting pictures of dressing the loom for the final project. Mostly they will help me decipher my notes months, years from now when I might need to dress a loom again.
Winding and tying the warp
Preparing the loom and warp, attaching the warp loosely to the warp beam
Arranging the warp across the raddle, tying the warp to the warp beam rod
Winding the warp onto the warp beam
Threading the heddles, sleying the reed, tying on
By the end of the day I had finished the log cabin design and could go home and start packing for the beach.
Conclusion: well, I can imagine weaving again, maybe even owning a loom someday. But I would want to take more classes first. There is so much planning and prepping before the actual weaving. It’s completely different than knitting. It could never replace knitting. I could be a knitter that weaves, but never a weaver who knits. Weavers are so serious.
This, That and Everything in Between
It’s time to do some catch up blogging. Things have been super busy lately, and that’s not going to change any time soon. So let’s get started.
My friend Amy and I are both starting Grumperina’s Picovoli’s together. Her yarn is pink in the new Valley Yarns Longmeadow and mine will be the purple Joy in Rowan Calmer.
We both struggled with the provisional cast on and the row being twisted when joining in the round. After getting the provisional cast on done correctly, I got 22 rows into mine and realized that the picot edge was really going to flare out. After ripping it all out, I did the inside edge on the picot trim two needle sizes smaller, hopefully reducing the tendency to flare out. Here’s my latest try:
I knitted a set of potholders for my sister-in-law and brother, a very belated Christmas gift. I had a bit of a problem deciding what kind of edge to use. At first I did a crochet edge (top of pict) which seemed really stiff. I was concerned that after felting the edge wouldn’t be flat, but all ruffly. So the next two potholders I used a knit edge (bottom of pict). This edge seemed much more consistent with the rest of the fabric.
I felted them yesterday at Amy’s and they’re drying right now. The crochet edge did indeed felt in a unpleasant funky way. So that makes two potholders as gifts and one in the bin of NEVER DO THIS AGAIN. And yes once again I forgot to take pre-felting measurements so I could figure out the percentage of shrinkage.
My scarf arrived from my secret International Scarf Exchange pal.
Her name is Marion Frazer from Tennessee. Marion met a German designer, Monika Haas, at Stitches East and the pattern is Monika’s design. Monika also made the yarn which is created by individual threads added together starting with the light colors and gradually going to the darker colors. Thanks so much Marion; it’s all quite beautiful.
Last week Ella came home and declared that I needed to make her a wood sprite costume for her Girl Scout play that was happening in two days. This is what I whipped up in less than an hour since that’s all the time I was willing to put into a spur-of-the-moment request. I can’t believe how much sewing I’ve been doing.
I couldn’t resist this new Lexie Barnes knitting bag. But between the Pink Picot Hat and these pink flowers, am I turning into a girly girl? I didn’t even think I liked pink, at least not since I was 14 wearing a pink suit while my brothers sported the Miami Vice look. But when I showed the bag to Liam yesterday and asked him what he thought of it, he said, “It’s handsome. The flowers are handsome. (pauses and strokes the flowers.) I lub you Mom.” Well if it’s a handsome bag, it can’t be too girly girl, right?
And the real reason that I justified buying this bag now was because I have a new part-time job at Webs! You know that I’m excited about this. I start next Thursday and I’m going to try my hardest not to spend it all on yarn. But how could I resist one celebratory knitting bag?
Finished Project: Silk Knitting Needle Cases
(mouseover to see the inside)
Project Specs:
Pattern: my own, I think I figured it out by the third case
Fabric: beautiful silk from Delectable Mountain Cloth
Size: about 27 inches across and 15 inches tall
My Blog Links: Count Down to Vacation, Needle Case Fabric
OK, they are finally done. My sewing machine kept trying to die on me. The thread broke a lot, and I was having a lot of problems with loose and uneven stitches. I think it’s time to have someone look at the machine.
But now that they are done, I feel so good. And I can stop focusing on all of the mistakes. Why do I keep trying to take on projects like this when I hate to sew? It’s so stressful.
Now it’s time for a big glass of wine and to think about how I’m getting the four other holiday gifts done on time.
Happy Thanksgiving
Since I’m still sick, I had to cancel our Thanksgiving travel plans. But since I’ve been home all day, check out the knitted gift enclosure cards I made. I’ll hand write washing instructions and such on these and include one with each gift I’m knitting for the holidays.
If you listen to podcasts, you may be interested in this new knitting podcast. I’m still deciding what I think of it. Let me know what you think if you listen to it.
Finished Project: Felted Bead Bracelet
Maybe it’s crazy of me to decide to make a birthday gift the day before a party, but Ella and I had fun.
Ella’s going to a birthday party tomorrow and needed a gift for a friend. Ever since my trip to Morehouse Farm yarn store, I can’t stop thinking about little felted balls. I mentioned the idea of trying to make a felted bead bracelet for her friend. She was excited about it so we picked up some colorful wool at A Child’s Garden after school. An hour later Ella, Liam and I were circled around a tub of hot soapy water felting away. After felting, I put the beads in the dryer and then strung them on some stretchy beading cord. That’s it. It was a simple and fun project to do with kids and I’m sure we’ll be making more of these. At Morehouse Farm I also saw some felt bead purse handles which were so cute. Hmm, maybe I could put those on my felted knitting bag I want to make.
Yarn Store Reviews & Anti-Procrastination Day
We came back early from our weekend away since there were a few of us not feeling well. So I’m treating the rest of the day as “Anti-Procrastination” day. Here’s what I’ve accomplished.
It’s been just over 6 months now since I learned to knit and I’ve got a ton of bookmarks in my internet browser. So I spent half an hour cleaning those up into descriptive folders. Hmmm, much nicer.
I’ve got a good start on my Sockapaltwoza socks. I’m approaching the heel of the first sock. I’m loving the yarn. I may need to buy some more sometime for a sweater for myself or a baby. Lots of nice colors and it’s very soft.
And I took a nap. With all of the Harry Potter reading and new business name obsessing I’ve been doing, sleep fell down on the priority list. I guess that may be how I got sick in the first place.
I finished my book club book for this month, Persepolis, a graphic novel. I liked it so much I need to get Persepolis 2 from the library.
And now the big procrastination…the yarn store reviews from my vacation. I’m afraid my memory is not that good, and this may be closer to a list of the stores I went to. Oh well, that will teach me not to procrastinate. Well, probably not.
Idea Studio—This was not one of my planned yarn store stops. But my sister-in-law Lisa mentioned it since it was so close to her house. It’s new as of last year. I was on a mission for Rowan Calmer yarn and nice wood needles for the Dino Sweater. It was just a quick stop since Bill had three kids in the car. We were on our way to Kiddieland. No luck in finding what I was looking for. But the salesperson did ask me if I needed any help and was pleasant.
Mosaic Yarn Studio—This store was a half hour north of Lisa’s house. I read about it on the Knittyboard. The staff was very helpful with showing me how to read my gauge of my Blaze swatch. Then I was able to get the needles I needed for it. I almost left with some Koigu yarn too for my sock pal, but she doesn’t want 100% wool yarn. Now I wish I had gotten some for myself since they had so many colors.
The Bead Alley—This is a bead/yarn combo store in Stillwater, MN (my birthplace). Actually they just recently started to carry yarn and the owner seemed overwhelmed with all of the choices of yarn out there and wasn’t sure what to carry next. But their yarn inventory is expanding so I’ll be interested to see what it looks like next time I visit. I left with nothing, but as a former beader and new knitter, I was excited about this combination store.
The Yarnery—This was one of my favorite yarn stores on the trip. I’ve been to this St. Paul store a few other times, but long before I even learned to knit. I found my Calmer yarn here. And they had some good ideas about what contrasting color I should choose for my NBaT. One of the staff showed me a nice way to splice wool yarn together when starting a new skein. And she also gave me a bunch of free small yarn bras which she gets from a florist. And there was plenty of space to sit and knit while I waited for my ride, never feeling like I didn’t belong there. An interesting side note, I heard the staff talking about Meryl Streep being in the store the day before and how she’s a big knitter. She was in town for the filming of Prairie Home Companion.
Amazing Threads—Up in Maple Grove, this was a tricky store to find, but well worth it. The staff were generally excited to be there. The store had a really good vibe and really good yarn. An employee spent a lot of time with me helping me figure out what yarn and pattern to use for my Sockapaltwoza socks. (Of course now I’m using something different, but that’s just because I don’t feel like knitting such small stitches right now.) She also mentioned that the Twin Cities now has 25 yarn stores. Hmm, maybe that’s a reason to move back.
Crafty Planet—This would be by far the coolest store I went to on the trip. Not so much a yarn store, though they do have some yarn, but a hip craft store. I got a skein of bamboo yarn (which I’ve been wanting to try out) for a lace hat for Ella. I also got her an interesting book with a chapter called “Spy Supplies and Mad Scientist Materials” which I knew she would like. But I had to come back to the store. I couldn’t stop thinking about the faux vintage print fabrics. They would look great as a lining for a felted knit bag. So I got these. The first is to go with the yarn I already had for a purse I’m making for a friend. And the Dysfunctional Family fabric I plan to use in a knitting project bag for myself.
Depth of Field—Ah, and now the most disappointing store. I had been warned about their service and their reputation seemed to be correct. There were five employees sitting around a table in the middle of the store. And all of the times I was going up and down the aisles with Ella saying things like “I’m just trying to find this sock yarn,” not once did any of them ask me if I wanted any help. But the store does have a lot of great yarn and I did leave with several things that I found all on my own. But with so many stores in the Twin Cities, next time I’ll try out a new store before going back here.
Hand Held—Finally we arrived in Arkansas and I got to go back to the store where I bought my first pair of needles and skeins of yarn. They did carry Calmer, but not the color in the extra skein I was looking for. They did spend a lot of time with me trying to teach me how to do a provisional cast on. Unfortunately by this point, I had already bought so much at other places I didn’t buy anything here. But next time I will.
Loops—We were passing through Tulsa on our way to visit a friend in Bartlesville (my husband’s birthplace) and knew about this store in advance. After lunch I stopped by quickly and I found the skein of Calmer I was looking for. I had no time to look around. But I can’t wait to go back. It looked lovely.
Colorful Stitches—I went here with two other knitters the day after I got back from our trip. I bought some yarn on sale for a neck gaiter for my sister-in-law and I bought some purple Calmer for a second NBaT, this time a tank. They had a lot of Calmer colors, but it was the most expensive I’ve found. Lennox is such a cute place with lots of shopping; I’d come back here again.
Well that brings me up to date on some of my procrastinations. Now if only I could wake up in the morning and have all of the scrapbooks from the past four years finished.
